Remembering Pandemics: From the Black Death to COVID-19 Memorials

Original article published by The Conversation examines how memories of pandemics are formed, disputed and often politicized. It contrasts the Black Death era with modern COVID-19 memorials and shows how memory is shaped by what is recorded and preserved, as well as by personal and official commemorations.

• Pandemics generate contested memories that are influenced by trauma, record-keeping practices, and dominant narratives.
• Plague memory in the Middle Ages often became taboo, with people fearing that discussing it could invite illness.
• Personal graffiti and inscriptions in churches offer rare glimpses into individual losses, while many memories are buried by chance records and record-keeping biases.
• The way we remember COVID-19 will depend on how experiences are recorded, preserved, and commemorated in the future.

Author: The Conversation

Introduction

Memories of pandemics are often contested, uncomfortable and politically charged. As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes in public memory, questions arise about how it should be remembered. The article considers a spectrum of memory practices from personal memorials to official commemorations and suggests that looking at earlier pandemics can inform how we remember COVID-19.

The Black Death and the Aftermath

The Black Death of 1346-53 was one of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history, with estimates that a large portion of the European population perished. Yet plague did not disappear and repeatedly reappeared in subsequent centuries. My research indicates that despite plague's pervasive presence, it often became taboo among survivors, with people avoiding open discussion about the disease. Commemoration occurred in limited, personal forms rather than widespread collective memory, partly due to trauma and the sheer scale of loss.

Taboo, Fear and Memory

Contemporaries sometimes believed that imagining plague could cause it to strike, leading to a reluctance to discuss it. Medieval physicians also cautioned against invoking plague, suggesting that dwelling on death could invite it. Trauma from witnessing mass graves and the formal limitations of surviving sources further silenced many voices. This silence must be read carefully, as the available historical record is shaped by what texts and artifacts survived by chance and by what communities valued preserving.

Sources, Silence and Remembering

The end of the fifteenth century saw divergent interpretations of an outbreak that divided a community. Some described the illness as plague, others as pyned sekenes, a pulmonary illness. The act of naming the disease influenced how it would be remembered. The article highlights that the voices preserved in graffiti, church inscriptions and chronicles provide glimpses into personal losses, such as inscriptions at St Mary’s church in Ashwell and St Edmund’s church in Acle, which convey emotional and moral theologies of plague. Meanwhile, much of the memory of plague rests in mass graves and trenches, reminding us that memory is uneven and contingent.

Memory, Memorials and Modern Implications

Today, memory of plague and pandemics is mediated by the types of sources historians rely upon and by how societies choose to memorialize. The rise of the Danse Macabre in medieval culture and the broader memorial culture surrounding plague show how cultural representations reflect anxieties about dying suddenly and unprepared. The article argues that the way future historians remember COVID-19 will depend not only on lived experience but also on what was recorded, preserved and commemorated, including personal and official memorial initiatives.

Conclusion

By examining historical memory, taboos, and memorial practices around plague, the article offers a crucial lesson for COVID-19 memory: record-keeping practices and commemorative activities will shape how the pandemic is remembered for generations to come. The memory of pandemics is not simply about what happened, but about how societies choose to remember and transmit those memories.